Footnote: The medal was instituted on November 4, 1919 by the Kärntner Freiheitskämpf (Carinthian Freedom Fighters), a paramilitary organization set up by former soldiers in the chaos following the end of the First World War, to maintain order and in particular, to resist the incursion into southern Carinthia of Yugoslav forces seeking its annexation. In the event, the situation was stabilized and in a plebiscite (referendum) held on October 10, 1920, the inhabitants voted to become part of the new Austrian Republic.